Chapter 05 Self-Assessment

. Which chronological order below is correct?

Olmec city at San Lorenzo; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru; Olmec city at La Venta

Olmec city at San Lorenzo; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; Olmec city at La Venta; First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru

Olmec city at San Lorenzo; First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; Olmec city at La Venta

First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru; Olmec city at San Lorenzo; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; Olmec city at La Venta

. The early development of American societies parallels those in Eurasia and Africa, except in respect to:

The development of urban centers for religious and trade activities.

The use of two-wheel horse-drawn chariots and sophisticated plows.

Access to agricultural sources of surplus food and means of accumulating stores.

The ability to design and engineer massive buildings, such as pyramids.

. The most prominent geographical feature of the Americas is:

A contiguous spine of mountain ranges extending along the entire western coast from the Rocky Mountains in the north to the Andes in the south.

A very even terrain extending from northern Canada to the tip of Chile and Argentina

Soil conditions and climate conditions conducive to growing similar crops from Canada to Argentina.

Generally more moderate weather conditions in southern Canada than in northern Chile.

. Mesoamerica and South America are comprised of four distinct geographical regions, including all of the below EXCEPT:

The Central American mainland and the Caribbean islands.

The Andes Mountain region

The Guyana Shield and Amazon River basin.

The Chihuahua rainforest just below the Rio Grande.

. The impact of the tides and flows of the Pacific on the American climate includes all of the following EXCEPT:

The warm waters of the Western Pacific move toward the Aleutian Islands and down the American coast.

They have a moderating effect on the weather, particularly from southern Alaska to northern California.

The region from the coast of southern Alaska to northern California contains much of the world's temperate rain forests.

From California to Chile, the currents are generally warmer than the surrounding Ocean, driving fish and other marine animals away during most of the year.

. One of the ways many scientists track and establish dates for the migration patterns of early Americans is through:

Hunting technology, particularly the design of spears and arrowheads.

The musical instruments, such as flutes, left at butchering sites.

Archeological remains showing a strong preference for agriculture over foraging.

The presence of a specific type of technology, called Clovis points, in both northern Eurasia and North America.

. Early American adaptation to changing conditions included all of the below EXCEPT:

Changing their hunting patterns after the expansion of forests, together with human hunting expertise, diminished the population of large game.

Beginning to hunt the difficult prey, such as small mammals and reptiles, even though they represented more work for less gain.

Domesticating large mammals to provide meat and milk products to assure adequate nutrition for their groups.

Developing new technology or perfecting existing techniques, such as making smaller spears, fishhooks, awls, and needles in order to exploit seafood as well as smaller animals.

. All of the following observations about religious or supernatural beliefs and activities apply EXCEPT:

Foragers began burying their dead in areas that developed into territorial centers.

Many of the communities' dead were buried with gifts of orange ochre.

Foraging bands had a very simple culture, with an unsophisticated understanding of the world.

Leaders of foraging bands were often shamans, people seeming to have spiritual powers.

. The development and cultivation of corn:

Apparently took place in South America, in the vicinity of Brazil.

Seems to have been the result of cross-breeding more than one species of plant.

Took more than 12,000 years, according to carbon-dating techniques of teosinte and modern corn.

Has been proven, by plant geneticist Mary Eubanks, to have taken many generations of experimentation to create a nutritious grain.

. Diffusion of corn as a food for both animals and humans:

Occurred very slowly because there was little trade or contact within the Americas.

Has permanently altered global agricultural patterns over the past 300 years.

Has been extensive, but outside the Americas, it is primarily a trade item because it requires very specific soils and climate.

Is of limited economic value because other, more easily grown substances work as well and are less expensive.

. Basic food crops in Mesoamerica and the Andes include all EXCEPT:

Squash

Potatoes

Oats

Avocado

. Animals in the Americas suitable for domestication included all EXCEPT:

Llamas

Alpacas

Turkeys

Horses

. Between 3000 and 2000 BCE, villages in the lowlands along the Andes coast of Peru did all of the following EXCEPT:

Built rafts to allow them to fish farther from shore.

Increased crop yields through irrigation.

Began developing a stratified society.

Started making bronze plows and cooking utensils.

. The largest social class in Andean society was comprised of:

Farmers

Merchants

Artisans

Priests

. Quipú was:

A writing system similar to cuneiform.

A very short-lived means of record keeping.

A system of knotted ropes conveying information.

The most prevalent means of performing human sacrifices in South America.

. Excavations of Chavín, a small city in the Andean highlands, indicate that:

The population of the city consisted primarily of farmers and agricultural workers.

The population of the city, primarily priests, rulers, and craftspeople, were dependent for food upon farmers and herders in the outlying hamlets.

Contained underground worship centers, but have no indication of sacrifice, whether human or animal.

By 400 BCE, the city had surpassed its usefulness and the population began to dwindle.

. All of the following apply to the Olmecs at San Lorenzo EXCEPT:

They built the first important Mesoamerican center around 6000 BCE, before the major centers of Egypt were established.

In order to provide sufficient food, farmers cleared dense tropical rainforests to create arable fields.

We are not certain what they called themselves; the name "Olmec," meaning rubber people, was given to them by the Aztecs.

The fields were near riverbanks, where silt deposited by floods created rich soil, resulting in a high yield, about twice that in the villages of the Mexican valleys.

. At San Lorenzo, thousands of laborers were engaged in performing all the tasks below EXCEPT:

Constructing a plateau and terraced platforms.

Quarrying huge blocks of basalt from a mountain range 70 miles away.

Carrying beams from which basalt blocks weighing about 18 tons were hung on slings.

Constructing wide moats around fields to drain water and discourage invasions.

. All of the statements below are true of the Inuit EXCEPT:

They migrated from Siberia to the northern tundra of North America about 10,000 BCE.

They were skilled at hunting large sea mammals.

They lived in pit houses, covered by walrus skin under sod.

On winter hunts they built temporary snow houses from ice blocks.

. The Marajó, the most closely investigated of the early Amazonian cultures,:

Inhabited a large island in the mouth of the Madera River.

Reached its height about 3000 BCE

Built funeral mounds about 30 feet high and 750 feet long.

Show little sign of an existing social hierarchy.

. All of the following is true about early settlers in the rainforests of the Caribbean islands EXCEPT:

They formed agricultural settlements as early as 500 BCE.

They built villages and terraces to grow manioc.

Artisans made ceramics in the shapes of animals, hinting at a shamanic religion

They generally avoided contact with the mainland, perhaps from fear of invasion.

. All of the following is true of the Lapita cultural complex EXCEPT:

It was a system connecting the inhabitants of thousands of islands from Borneo to Melanesia.

The most highly demanded trade item in the complex was metal from which weapons and fish hooks could be manufactured.

The culture developed great sophistication in navigation and the technology involved in watercraft building.

Members of the culture had settled almost all of the habitable islands of the Pacific by the time they came into contact with Europeans in the sixteenth century.

. We suspect all of the following about the origins of the Polynesians EXCEPT:

All settlers in Polynesia spoke a language belonging to the Austronesian family.

It appears that the ancestors of the Pacific Islanders originated in northwest China.

The Polynesians are generally a genetically homogenous group, suggesting no outside influences.

The ultimate Polynesian origin may have been in inland Taiwan.

. All of the following are commonalities shared by societies in the Americas, Oceania, Eurasia, and Africa EXCEPT:

Growth and sophistication of social structures.

Political centralization and resistance to it.

The development of cities, once there was a sufficiently high population.

Monumental architecture for religious and political purposes.

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